“Dell reported a 33 percent drop in fourth-quarter profits that were slightly ahead of expectations. But the No. 2 PC maker’s sales figures came in below estimates and Dell warned that growth and profit margins will remain ‘under pressure’ for the next few quarters,” CNNMoney reports.

CNNMoney reports, “Dell said its sales for the quarter were $14.4 billion, a 5.1 percent decrease from the year-ago period. Analysts had expected revenues of $14.88 billion. Dell reported earnings of $673 million, or 30 cents per share for the quarter, compared to analyst expectations of 29 cents per share. In the fourth quarter of 2005, the company earned $1 billion, or 43 cents per share. Analysts had expected profits of 32 cents per share for the quarter before Dell issued a warning on January 31.”

“Dell’s stock has tumbled over 40 percent over the past two years on decreased sales, slimmer profit margins and the accounting probe… Dell did not offer specific guidance, but said that it expects growth and margins to be under pressure for the next several quarters as it transforms the company,” CNNMoney reports.

“‘We are disappointed with the company’s results, but what matters is our future plan of action. We are systematically moving to increase efficiencies, improve execution and transform the company,’ said Michael Dell in a statement. ‘Our business model will become more aligned with the needs of our customers,”‘ he added,” CNNMoney reports.

“Among Dell’s main business areas, desktop PCs remained the company’s biggest revenue generator, accounting for $4.6 billion, or 32% of the quarter’s sales. However, desktop revenue fell 18% from last year’s $5.6 billion,” Rex Crum reports for MarketWatch.

Crum reports, “Mobility sales, which include notebook PCs, was flat with a year ago at $3.8 billion. ‘Those results were pretty weak,’ according to Shaw Wu, an analyst with American Technology Research. ‘That area is one of the most important in the PC market right now.'”

“Additionally, Dell announced that it had received a stay from the Nasdaq Listing and Hearing Review Council, regarding any further action to delist the company’s stock from the Nasdaq. Dell has until May 4 to provide the council with any additional material for it to consider,” Crum reports. “Shares of Dell fell almost 2% in after-hours trading to $22.62.”

Californian lawyers have applied to bring a class action law suit against computer giant Dell with Wolverhampton City Council’s pension fund as lead plaintiff.

Patrick Daniels of Lerach Coughlin law firm alleged on Channel4 News last night that Dell executives had conducted “one of the largest cases of insider trading in US history.”

The programme said that the fund had alleged that between February 2003 and September 2005 Dell executives sold around 99 million shares they held in Dell for more than $3.3bn after artificially inflating the price. The firm is alleged to have improperly reported loyalty payments Intel made to Dell in exchange for the privilege of being its sole supplier of PC microprocessors.